Table 2

Crude and adjusted ORs (95% CIs) for mortality from multiple sclerosis associated with indicators of exposure to sunlight and socioeconomic status, USA, 1984–95

		Multiple sclerosis				Skin cancer
		Crude	Adjusted^2-150			Crude	Adjusted^2-150
Residence sunlight^2-151:
Low	1.0	1.0		1.0	1.0
Moderate	0.58 (0.54 to 0.62)	0.59 (0.55 to 0.63)		1.12 (1.04 to 1.20)	1.15 (1.07 to 1.23)
High	0.55 (0.51 to 0.59)	0.53 (0.48 to 0.57)		1.15 (1.07 to 1.24)	1.24 (1.15 to 1.35)
Occupation^2-152:
Indoor	1.0	1.0		1.0	1.0
Mixed	0.87 (0.77 to 0.97)	0.89 (0.78 to 1.02)		1.30 (1.19 to 1.42)	1.03 (0.93 to 1.14)
Outdoor	0.40 (0.33 to 0.47)	0.74 (0.61 to 0.89)		1.53 (1.40 to 1.68)	1.21 (1.09 to 1.34)
Socioeconomic status:
1 Low	1.0	1.0		1.0	1.0
2	1.36 (1.19 to 1.55)	1.00 (0.88 to 1.15)		0.92 (0.84 to 1.0)	0.93 (0.85 to 1.01)
3	2.45 (2.19 to 2.75)	1.90 (1.68 to 2.13)		0.90 (0.83 to 0.97)	0.89 (0.82 to 0.96)
4	3.08 (2.73 to 3.49)	2.26 (1.99 to 2.57)		0.87 (0.79 to 0.95)	0.90 (0.82 to 1.00)
5 High	3.39 (2.89 to 3.99)	3.07 (2.59 to 3.62)		1.19 (1.04 to 1.36)	1.07 (0.94 to 1.23)

↵2-150 Adjusted ORs were calculated with logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status, except in the case of socioeconomic status where adjustments were for age, sex, and race.
↵2-151 Residence sunlight was defined as residing in a region both at birth and at the time of death. Regions are defined in table 1. Subjects who resided in different regions at birth and at the time of death were excluded.
↵2-152 Occupational analysis was limited to those subjects whose usual occupation was classified as highly or moderately active to exclude those whose indoor jobs reflected restricted job options due to the disabilities of their disease. Homemakers were also excluded.